Grand Rapids Ballet Pushes the Envelope

Five years ago, former Pacific Northwest Ballet icon Patricia Barker took the helm of Michigan’s Grand Rapids Ballet. She transformed the company’s focus, invigorating their repertoire and attracting new local and international talents. For their recent tour to Seattle, the company’s 31 dancers performed a new version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, commissioned from Olivier Wevers, on October 7-9 and MOVEMEDIA, a mixed bill of contemporary ballet and modern works dedicated to incorporating multimedia elements, on October 10-11 at the Cornish Playhouse. Since the inception of their MOVEMEDIA dance series in 2012, Grand Rapids Ballet has commissioned numerous new works by both emerging and established choreographers, over half of whom have been women.